Gordon Brown has reportedly stepped up calls for tougher rules on tax havens. But are all offshore financial centres the same? And do they deserve all the criticism?
Offshore financial centres (OFCs) have come in for a lot of criticism recently. If you read the daily newspapers, you might well believe that every OFC is a hive of banking secrecy, tax evasion and criminal activity. Even Oxfam has joined in. The Guardian recorded Oxfam’s claims that developing countries lose out on up to $124bn (£78bn) of annual income from assets held offshore in OFCs.
